


Most Difficult Mission (Holiday Edition)

by ibwho



Series: Noblesse Scenes [1]
Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: #christmas, #finally_not_kidnapped_on_an_errand, #first_christmas_tree, #fluff, #gift_giving_for_beginners, #how_to_spend_your_salary, #m-21_goes_shopping, #presents, #warm_fuzzies, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28328466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibwho/pseuds/ibwho
Summary: M-21 attempts one of the most difficult missions of his life... buying Christmas presents for his family.
Series: Noblesse Scenes [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074638
Comments: 27
Kudos: 77





	Most Difficult Mission (Holiday Edition)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alexa18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alexa18/gifts), [misslambyy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/misslambyy/gifts).



> Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays!
> 
> Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this is the first year in my life that I am not home for Christmas. I decided that if I couldn’t be with my family, at least M-21 could be with his, so I wrote this fic. 
> 
> I rushed a bit to try and post it in time for the holidays, but I hope you can enjoy it!
> 
> Spoiler alert:  
> It references incidents that happen up until approximately Ch 415 of the manhua (werewolf arc)
> 
> Special thanks to my friend missLambyy for being there when I sent my rough draft at 4am this morning and for proof-reading it until 6am!

M-21 was on a mission. 

It might be one of the most difficult missions of his life…

His nose and hands, numb with cold, tingled as a wave of heat washed over them and bright lights flashed around him. He turned sharply as high pitched shrieks filled the air and narrowly dodged a pair of children sprinting towards him. Their parents’ shouts were nearly drowned out by the noise from dozens of blaring speakers and hundreds of people bumping into each other as they rushed past. To his right, another child started crying and he turned in time to see a harassed looking lady retrieve a small boy from the lap of a red suited man while some bystanders cooed and chortled at the boy and others looked sympathetically at the mother.

So.

This was the mall at Christmas time.

After M-21 restrained his fighting instincts so he wasn’t about to transform at every sudden movement or noise... the twinkling colored lights outlining the giant Christmas tree and shop windows could be considered quite festive, even beautiful. His ears now adjusted to the volume of sound could sift out various holiday tunes streaming from the speakers around the shops, and some of the high pitched squeals cutting through the general ambiance were actually from delighted children as they clung to their parents’ hands and were swung into the air as they walked. Similarly, some of the people bumping into each other in the hallways were actually couples with hooked arms playfully nudging each other as they sauntered to their next destination. 

Having assessed the area, it was time to continue with the mission.

The problem with this mission was that while the goal was defined in general, the specific conditions for success hadn’t been determined yet, and M-21 wasn’t 100% sure how to proceed. He would have to improvise. At any rate, he would never make progress by standing in the doorway. Glancing left and right down seemingly endless hallways, he picked a direction at random and started walking along the stores.

**************

The catalyst for this mission came a few days earlier when Frankenstein suddenly called M-21 into his office at school.

“You called for me, headmaster?”

Frankenstein looked up from his mountain of paperwork.  
“Ah M-21.“ He put down his pen and set his elbows on the table, resting his chin on clasped hands. Piercing blue eyes examined M-21.

“M-21, is there a problem with the bank card I gave you?”

M-21’s brow creased in confusion.

“... No sir?”

“When I was depositing everyone’s paycheck, I noticed you’ve hardly touched your account for over a month. Last time that happened you never told me you weren’t getting paid, so I thought I’d check in. Is there a reason you haven’t withdrawn any cash? Are you saving money for something?”

M-21 shifted slightly.  
“... I’m not really trying to save for anything in particular. I _have_ been using the money… I went to lunch with Tao and Takeo yesterday, and the kids dragged me along to buy snacks for them a few days ago…”

“Is that all you ever buy? Food and snacks?” Frankenstein asked.

M-21 thought about it.

“Well... Yes. M-24 and I weren’t given salaries in the Union. The medications needed to treat the side effects and keep us alive were considered our compensation. The only money we received was a living stipend. As low-level agents, our stipends weren’t much, just enough to cover food and clothes. It wasn’t enough for an apartment, so we’d stay in the agent barracks whenever we were at headquarters for our checkups. The other agents looked down on us since we were failed experiments, so we generally tried to take long-term assignments in other locations where we could get away with expensing a cheap hostel.  
  
Now that I’m living at your house, my only expenses have been eating out. You’ve provided us with housing, food and work uniforms, so I haven’t needed anything else.” M-21 explained.

Frankenstein’s face had remained firmly neutral throughout M-21’s story, but his eyes had grown cold and Dark Spear’s aura started leaking out with his suppressed anger as he listened to details about M-21’s former life. 

“... Frankenstein?”

Frankenstein straightened up, restrained his murderous aura, and smiled at M-21.  
“Well you have a salary now. It’s good to have a few hobbies; you should think about what interests you. Takeo and Tao both appear to spend more than you… _Especially_ Tao. He spends a LOT more.” Frankenstein said with a note of exasperated grievance. 

“Ah... Right. I’ll… think about it.”

**************

After leaving the headmaster’s office, M-21 thought about what he said and remembered Tao really did seem to spend a lot… When the three of them were repairing the school after it was destroyed in the fight with Yuri and the fake M-24, Tao was [ extra excited about getting overtime pay for the construction work ](https://ww2.readnoblesse.com/chapter/noblesse-chapter-283/) so he could buy materials to create new weapons for Takeo and M-21. 

M-21 felt he hadn’t really done anything to repay that gift yet. Speaking of gifts, it would be Christmas in a few days, and normal families would be spending the day together opening presents. [ Rai had said they were a family ](https://ww2.readnoblesse.com/chapter/noblesse-chapter-444/) so perhaps it would be nice to do an activity normal families do…. 

\---

And that was how M-21 ended up wandering the halls of the mega mall on Christmas Eve morning with his current mission - buy gifts for all of his family.  
  
It was turning out to be an extremely difficult mission.

What kind of presents do you buy for 2 modified humans, a noble brat, his equally noble aloof older sister/guardian, a genius scientist with a twisted personality, and the person who continually spent his own life to save yours….

To begin with, M-21 didn’t have practice picking out presents for people. There was no possibility of doing so while they were test subjects, and after he and M-24 became Union agents, there was no money or reason to buy gifts. 

No. That wasn’t quite right. 

M-21 slowed and stared into a display window of a hat shop. 

Even though they didn’t have much money, M-24 had always bought M-21 a Christmas present. M-24 never called it that of course. They were always items ‘for the mission’- a new trenchcoat so M-21 ‘wouldn’t get sick during location stakeouts and jeopardize the mission success’ or a new watch ‘to make sure they were in sync during mission executions’... But he always gave those items to M-21 around Christmas time. 

It took a couple of years before M-21 caught on, but then he also started buying things for M-24. A scarf to keep out the wind, gloves for handling late night transactions etc. M-24 would use the gifts that M-21 gave him until they fell apart or were shredded in a fight. M-21 had been considering getting him a new hat next. A hat kind of like the one displayed in the window. Leather, so they could waterproof it, and with an extra large brim to try and keep some of the rain off M-24’s wide shoulders. M-24 always complained that small hats were useless because they just funneled the rain from his head directly into the collar of his jacket so his shirt would end up soaked anyway. A hat like the one in the window would have been useful during their long stakeout missions. 

Not that it mattered anymore.  
  
M-24 didn’t need a new hat now.

M-21 turned away from the hat shop.

 _Focus on the current mission,_ he told himself.  
  
He needed to find presents for his new family.

**************

When a mission goal was too big to tackle at once, agents broke it down into different phases or individual targets. M-21 picked the easiest target to go after first. 

Target 1: Tao.

Tao liked computers and technology. That should be easy, right? M-21 found a store with a bunch of technological gadgets in the window and walked in. He passed a display of barking, chirping and meowing toy robots blindly walking into the walls of their plastic kennel. A red and yellow explosion shaped sign over the kennel declared the bots on sale to have the “Lowest Price of the Year!”. Next to them, a circular vacuum cleaner bounced drunkenly across its enclosure sucking up bits of lint and hair dropped by passing customers. M-21 saw large monitors and TVs displayed at the back of the store and headed towards them, assuming computer items would be near the larger tech.

As M-21 wandered up and down the aisles of various monitor, computer, keyboard and mouse displays, he got a sinking feeling. He didn’t understand the minute differences between the devices and Tao probably had preferences on what sort of specs he wanted in his gear. Come to think of it, pretty much none of the mice or keyboards sitting on the shelves looked anything like the devices M-21 had seen Tao use at home.

Perhaps… Tao wasn’t the easiest target after all.

M-21 debated what to do next, his gaze traveling over the store for inspiration. Nearby, a series of massage chairs were lined up for customers to try. All the chairs were occupied by exhausted or bored looking customers, but a small TV on a stand between the chairs was spouting, “Do you spend all day working on a computer? Do you get headaches from tight neck and shoulders? We’ve got just the thing for you!” 

M-21 had an image of Tao coming out of his room stretching and beating a fist on his shoulder. He also seemed to massage the side of his neck a lot while they talked after dinner. M-21 moved closer to the jabbering automated display and picked up the wriggling U shaped cloth underneath it. 

“Made with high-quality microfiber cloth and built to last, this all in one electric heat massage therapy neck pillow is every tech worker’s greatest dream! The heat helps loosen muscles tight from typing all day, while our custom patented massage knobs work on undoing the tightest knots! Adjustable settings for both heat and massage strength ensure the ideal experience for every person’s comfort! When not active, the soft cushioned fabric makes for an ideal neck pillow for those late afternoon slumps!”

Perhaps Tao could use something like this?

As the little TV restarted the commercial and M-21 played with various massage speeds on the demo pillow, the muted ring and buzz of his phone from inside his coat pocket went completely unnoticed.

**************

M-21 had spent over an hour buying Tao’s present. He frowned. He was behind schedule.  
  
Next target: Takeo.

M-21 paused outside the electronics store, thinking. 

Takeo liked… Guns? Fashion? 

M-21 was competent at using guns from his Union agent training, but Takeo was a specialist and possibly only Tao knew what kind of specialized guns Takeo used. Guns didn’t seem like a feasible gift. Anyway, M-21 doubted he could find one at the mall. As for fashion, Tao also seemed to have some mystical ability in estimating clothing sizes for people, but M-21 could only roughly guess at what might fit Takeo. And anyway, fashion wasn’t an area where M-21 was particularly knowledgeable. 

What else was there..?  
  
M-21 recalled Takeo during their fights, cartwheeling and backflipping around the battlefield, guns blazing, his long purple hair swirling around him like a ribbon.

Hair.

Huh. Come to think of it, Takeo did spend a lot of time taking care of his hair. When Takeo, Tao and M-21 followed Frankenstein and Raizel to Lukedonia after Seira had been summoned there, Takeo’s excuse for going to claim his paycheck was that [ he needed to get his hair done ](https://ww2.readnoblesse.com/chapter/noblesse-chapter-175/). Also, Takeo spent at least half an hour every night brushing his hair. He would comb it both before and after he took a shower- saying something about combing it before taking a shower made it easier to get the knots out afterwards. He usually took a shower before all the other guys in the house as well saying that his hair needed the extra time to dry before going to bed. In the evenings, he wandered around the house with his hair wrapped in a towel to keep it from dripping water on the floor as it dried. 

In fact, the only person who ever took a shower earlier than Takeo was Seira… and she also had extremely long hair. _Hmm... maybe there is a connection there_ , M-21 mused as he set off to find a store that sold hair products. 

**************

M-21 mistakenly wandered through several makeup stores and got squirted with at least 4 different types of perfume in various shops before he found a promising hair products store.

After the couple in front of him paid and left, the cheerful girl at the register chirped, 

“Welcome to our shop! Can I help you find anything?” 

“I’m looking for a present for someone with long hair…” replied M-21.

“Of course!” she said, leading him over to a counter and gesturing to the shelves of boxes behind it. “Our holiday bath sets are currently on sale, they come with matching shampoo, conditioner, body wash and bath salts for those special occasions, or if you’re just feeling luxurious after a long day.”  
  
M-21 looked at the rows of colored boxes and winced at the thought of handing a bright pink glittery jar of bath salts to Takeo. 

“We also have a large array of accessories” the sales girl continued smoothly sweeping her hand along the glass case after catching M-21’s reaction to the bath sets. “Cute, elegant, or edgy, we have hair pins, barrettes and clasps to match any style, any day.”

M-21 glanced down into the case, eyes skimming over plastic hearts, dogs, cats, and bunnies before catching on some more elegant gold wire clips with pearl flowers. He had only ever seen Takeo and Seira wear their hair in ponytails, or completely down, but perhaps Seira might be interested in a hair clip?

Ignoring all the cutesy plastic items, M-21 looked more closely at the other options. There were skulls with pink eyes and little crowns proclaiming ‘Princess’ in all colors, but they didn’t look like they would be Seira’s style. On the higher shelf there was an elegant gold flower, a silver bird, and a barrette inlaid with shimmering bits of abalone shell. There was a possibility Seira might like those.

Then M-21 saw a barrette in the shape of a smooth black scythe. Small jeweled red roses dangled off the blade like glittering drops of blood. 

“I’ll take that one.” M-21 said pointing to the scythe.

“Excellent choice! That is the last of our limited edition Dark Princess series! I’m sure your girlfriend will love it.”  
  
M-21 jerked in surprise. “Not my girlfriend.” he replied automatically.  
  
“Oh really? She’s sure lucky to get a present from a handsome man like you. Are you planning on asking her out then?” the attendant asked interestedly.

“No, she’s... family” M-21 mumbled awkwardly. 

“Oh a younger sister then?” the attendant continued cheerily.  
  
M-21 thought of Seira cooking food for everyone and constantly taking care of Regis and Shinwu.

“... more like… Older sister.” _Several hundred years older._

“What a lucky sister to have such a doting younger brother! I’m sure she will love it.  
Will there be anything else for you today?”  
  
M-21 scanned the shop looking for something that he might be able to give Takeo. 

Dangling on the side of the shelf with all the bath kits were boxes of hair towel turbans. Remembering Takeo struggling to keep all of his hair from escaping the towel and dripping on the couch, M-21 asked “Do you have any hairdryers?”

The attendant led M-21 to a back alcove where several hair dryers were on display. While she went over the various details of each hair dryer and demonstrated the difference in volume between each brand, the sound of M-21’s phone vibrating in his pocket once again went unnoticed.

M-21 chose the hairdryer the attendant recommended for least hair damage and quietest noise level and followed her back to the front of the store to checkout. As they passed the hair dye section, M-21 thought of the hereditary black streaks in Regis’s hair, and momentarily considered buying some hair dye for the brat, just to annoy him. He successfully squashed the impulse. However as they passed the rows of shampoo and conditioner with each bottle boasting to be perfect for straight, curly or wavy hair, M-21 wondered what Frankenstein’s hair would be considered to be, and if any of these products were high enough quality to be considered as a gift. He quickly discarded the idea after realizing that Frankenstein could probably brew his own hair products in the lab if he wanted. 

After M-21 paid, the attendant handed him his items and said “The barrette comes with a special edition Dark Princess gift bag, but if you show your receipt to the gift wrappers located on the second floor near the food court, you can get a discount on gift wrapping for the hair dryer. Most of the shops in the mall are partnered with them.”

“Thank you for the information.” M-21 hadn’t even thought of wrapping the presents and the clerk at the technology store hadn’t mentioned anything.

“Happy Holidays!” the attendant called after him as he left the store.

*********

M-21 estimated he had spent an hour and a half searching for the hair store and buying items, but he had found presents for both Takeo and Seira there so he was back on schedule. 3 down 3 to go - Regis, Frankenstein, and Raizel were left.

Hmm.. For Regis, perhaps he could checkout a toy store somewhere to see if there was anything appropriate for the brat. If not he could always come back for the hair dye.

Frankenstein on the other hand... What could you give an 800 hundred year old mad scientist who owns several private jets and is the headmaster of one of the most prestigious schools in the city…

What did Frankenstein like?

His Master - Raizel.

Experimenting.

Provoking people in a fight.

Stabbing dozens of holes in people and then stepping on their prone bodies after they can’t move.

M-21 frowned at the memory of their island training session. He never did get to land a satisfactory punch.

As far as present giving went, the only option offering possible gift choices seemed to be the second one… but Frankenstein’s lab was already so advanced M-21 couldn’t imagine any other equipment that Frankenstein might want... or that M-21 could afford. Then he remembered Frankenstein’s ramen experiments that he (and eventually Tao and Takeo) had volunteered for… He also recalled the extravagant cookie baking machine Frankenstein had experimented with when he first moved in. Perhaps… something to do with cooking?

M-21 remembered passing a window full of pots and pans earlier in the day.

He turned and began dodging streams of people as he retraced his steps.

*********

Back at Frankenstein’s manor, Tao frowned at his phone. Loopy armbands of tree lights hung on his arms and draped across his shoulders. 

“Hey Takeo, have you heard from M-21?”

Takeo was standing on a stool unwinding lights from Tao to drape along the branches of a new Christmas tree.

“Hang on a bit.” he said into a wad of branches as he finished one last wrap so the lights wouldn’t slide off the branch again and pulled his phone out of his back pocket. “No. I don’t have anything from him”.

“Hey Boss!” Takeo called into the kitchen where Frankenstein and Seira were preparing a feast for dinner. “Did M-21 tell you where he was going this morning?”

Frankenstein looked up from chopping vegetables. 

“No he didn’t. He just said that he had some errands to run but would be back in time for dinner.”

“M-21 left before Tao and I decided to go get a tree, so I called him a few times to see if he wanted to help set it up and decorate… but he hasn’t answered his phone or responded to any of my private or group messages.”

“Perhaps he is too busy with errands to respond to your childish messages?” asked Regis carrying the vacuum to the outlet where the lights were also plugged in.

“Hmm.. Maybe…” Tao said doubtfully. “Hey Regis, hold onto these for a bit would you?” he said, grabbing one of Regis’s arms and sliding the coil of Christmas lights onto it, speedily transferring the strand of wires on his shoulder to Regis as well. 

“Hey! What’s the meaning of this?!” cried Regis indignantly as Tao slipped under the wires and went to the coffee table where Rai sat silently looking on. Tao slid his laptop from under the table, opened it and started typing.

“Well, our group seems to have bad luck with kidnappings, see.” Tao explained as he rapidly clicked through files on his computer and opened some browser windows. “The kids have been kidnapped at least 3 times, Seiras been kidnapped once by Ignes, twice if you count being forced to go back to Lukedonia by the Lord. Regis has been captured a few times, once by DA-5,” Takeo cringed slightly, but Tao went on smoothly “once trying to rescue Gejutel in Lukedonia, and again trying to rescue Seira from Ignes and the 9th elder. Takeo and I got caught once by Yuri when the 12th Elder came, and if you count the Dr. Aris incident, Frankenstein’s been ‘kidnapped’ once, though I’m still not sure if he was actually kidnapped or if he just went along with them to see what would happen…” Rai took a sip of tea and Frankenstein coughed in the background. “M-21’s definitely been kidnapped at least twice.” Tao continued. “Once by DA-5, and most recently by the werewolves and Ignes. Since he had destroyed his communicator at the start of that incident, making it difficult for us to find him later, I added a few extra tracking devices to his wallet and phone.” 

Takeo paused, holding a string of lights in the tree.

“Tao, does M-21 know you added extra tracking to his belongings?”  
  
“Umm… yeaaah... I… might have forgotten to tell him about it when he got out of the shower...” Tao coughed. “But anyway, the point is even if we aren’t using the ear pieces, I should be able to get his general location… Aaand yes.” A blinking dot appeared on a map on Tao’s screen. “Okay well, it looks like he’s still inside the city at least.”

“Shall I try calling?” Frankenstein asked, rinsing his hands and drying them on a towel before reaching for his phone. 

*********

M-21 sat back in the hard plastic food court chair and mentally reviewed his progress. 

The cooking shop had dozens of different devices, but M-21 was fairly sure he’d seen the basic stand mixers, toasters, and blenders in the kitchen already. Eventually his eye caught on a noodle maker that advertised an attachment for making Ramen noodles. If Frankenstein wanted to take his ramen experiments to the next level, making homemade noodles seemed like a possible next step.

After consulting a mall map, M-21 wrote down the names of a couple possible toy stores. After getting lost in the basement level before realizing he was on the wrong floor, he went back to the first floor and finally found the store. He decided that the toy trucks and water guns were too childish even for Regis and skipped past them on the way to the board game section. A surprising number of the board game titles were actually familiar to M-21 since the kids would bring them over after school to play. Eventually, M-21 just picked a game he thought the kids would enjoy with the assumption that Regis could entertain the kids with it the next time they visited.

M-21 sighed tiredly and took another sip of coffee. He was waiting for his packages to get wrapped, and decided to grab a snack and drink from the food court while waiting. Clearly that was the intent of putting the gift wrappers next to the food court judging by the number of other shoppers ordering food and jostling for seats while waving at their friends standing in line to get packages wrapped. 

Who knew shopping could be as exhausting as a stakeout mission.

Speaking of which, he had one last target for his current mission.

Last Target: Cadis Etrama Di Raizel 

Rai. What could M-21 give the Noblesse, the most notoriously powerful being on the planet and the man who constantly used his own life force to save the people around him? Rai’s expressions never seemed to change, how could he tell what Rai really liked? 

M-21 stared at the Ramen food stand across from him.

Well.  
Rai liked Ramen.

But was instant ramen really an appropriate gift to give the person you owed your life to?

M-21’s musings were interrupted by his phone ringing. He scrabbled in his coat pocket and pulled out his phone to look at the caller id. Frankenstein? Did something happen?

“Hello?”  
  
“ _Ah. M-21, you finally picked up.”_

“Did something happen?” M-21’s mind raced with various possibilities. Did the Union attack? Or was it Crombell? Did he let his guard down too much because of the holiday season?

“ _T_ _ao was concerned because he couldn’t get ahold of you and you weren’t answering his messages.”_ Frankenstein said over the phone.

“Messages? I haven’t received any messa-.” M-21 paused as his phone suddenly vibrated and pinged multiple times with several incoming messages. “... I believe I’ve just received them. Sorry I must not have had service earlier.”

“ _No service? Where are you?”_

“‘I’m at the mall, but I was in the basement level earlier which may have restricted my reception.”

“ _The mall? What are you doing at the mall?”_

M-21 hesitated, unsure if he should mention that he was buying gifts.

“... Spending my salary...?”

_“...”_

“...”

_“ …Bwahahahahahaha!”_

M-21 jerked the phone away from his ear at Frankenstein’s sudden raucous laughter.

 _“I see.”_ Frankenstein said. _“That’s good then. I hope you find something you are interested in.”_

“Did you need something from me?”

 _“Oh right.”_ Frankenstein racked his brain for something to say other than ‘Please make sure you don’t get kidnapped again.’ _“I forgot to get a few ingredients for tonight’s dinner. I believe there is a grocery store in the bottom of the mall, can you see if you can pick up a few items?”_

“Sure. Can you text me what you need?”

_“I will send a list over in a bit.”_

“Also, when do you need the ingredients by?”

_“Seira and I are just prepping the first dish so we won’t need them for another 2 hours. Will that give you enough time?”_

M-21 did a quick calculation, it would take about 30 minutes to get back to the house, so that left him an hour and a half to find something for Rai and pick up Frankenstein’s ingredients.

“That should be fine. I just have a couple more stops to make.”

 _“Alright we’ll see you soon then.”_ _  
_ _  
_ “I’ll wait for your list then.”

M-21 hung up the phone and downed his coffee. 

A chime from his phone indicated the arrival of Frankenstein’s ingredients list.

Alright, time to get to it. Perhaps the grocery store would have some special flavors of ramen, or the crumbled ramen snack packs that Rai recently discovered and seemed to be obsessed with…  
  
M-21 picked up his newly wrapped packages and headed back down to the basement to find the grocery store. But before he picked up the groceries, he had one more store he wanted to stop at.

*********

Frankenstein hung up the phone and turned to Tao and the others.  
  
“M-21 is safe. He is at the mall.”

“Why didn’t he answer my calls?!” Tao asked indignantly.  
  
“Apparently he didn’t have reception…”

“... But I called several times.” Tao pouted.  
  
“Well, it is the holiday season. I bet the mall is quite busy and loud.”

“Ah, weeellll.” Tao stretched and collapsed backward onto the couch. “At least he’s safe. It would really put a damper on our Christmas if he’d been injured or kidnapped again. Did he want to help with the tree?”  
  
“... I did not ask.” replied Frankenstein. “But he said he should be back in a couple hours. At your current rate of progress, I’m guessing the lights will be just about finished then.”

Tao started guiltily and jumped off the couch to go help Takeo finish the tree lights.

“Oh and Tao.” Frankenstein called over.

“Yeah?”

“Please make a list of all the tracking devices you’ve put on everyone. And add any cameras or other security measures you’ve placed around the house. Also, **don’t** forget to send it to everyone this time.”

“Ah. Yes Boss.”

*********

M-21 considered his mission to be a success. He wasn’t completely confident in a few of the presents he chose, but theoretically it was the thought that counted right?  
  
Since the grocery store had a sale on special edition variety packs of ramen snacks and he couldn’t think of anything better for Rai, M-21 ended up buying a few sets of snacks and getting them wrapped. The gift wrappers seemed... amused.

M-21 carefully sandwiched a large square box under his left arm and tried to arrange the bags hanging off his arms in a way that let him unlock the front door.  
  
Sheltering his bags and groceries from being crushed, M-21 put a shoulder into the door and backed his way into the house. 

Warm air saturated with the scent of roasting pork enveloped M-21 as he entered the hallway and nudged the door shut behind him. M-21’s mouth immediately began watering. It smelled delicious and he realized he was far hungrier than he had thought.

M-21 kicked off his shoes, used a foot to nudge them inline with the other shoes in the entryway, and brought his mountain of bags into the living room. He stopped short at the sight of the transformed living room. When he had left this morning, the living room looked as it usually did. 

Now a giant tree stood by the window covered with lights. The windows were similarly outlined in lights and strings of glowing icicle LEDs hung along the walls.

Tao and Regis were holding boxes of ornaments and arguing over whether or not it was aesthetically acceptable to place two red colored ornaments near each other on the front of the tree, while Takeo silently shook his head and picked a clear glass ball from his own box to place on the far side of the tree. Rai stood on the other side of the tree calmly attaching a glittering golden spiral to a branch.

M-21 had seen the festive trees displayed in the mall and around town every year, but he had never seen one in the process of being decorated before. It felt... cozy.

Frankenstein came out of the kitchen carrying an artfully arranged plate of meat, cheese and veggies to place on the table.

“Oh, M-21 you’re back. Welcome home.” Frankenstein said when he saw the transfixed M-21 standing in the doorway to the living room.

“Ah. I’m back.” M-21 said tearing his gaze away from the hypnotic lights. “I’ve got the ingredients you asked for.” he said as he set down all the bags and began separating the groceries from his other purchases. 

“Thank you. Seira can you start washing the vegetables, please?”  
  
Seira nodded and solemnly walked over to M-21 to receive the grocery bags. 

“Whoa M-21! What’s with all the stuff?!” asked Tao, turning around to see M-21 standing in a mountain of packages. 

M-21 glanced down at the items near his feet and shifted awkwardly. How did this usually go?

“I... bought some gifts for everyone.” He said.

“...”

“...”

“...”

After a moment of surprised silence, Tao’s face split in half with a huge grin.  
“Awwwww, M-21 you shouldn’t have~!” he sang delightedly, sauntering to M-21 with the half-full box of ornaments in one hand and draping his other arm around M-21’s neck as he stared down to examine the bags at M-21’s feet. “So which one’s mine?” he asked eagerly.

“That was very thoughtful of you M-21.” Frankenstein interjected smoothly. “Why don’t you help the others finish decorating the tree. We can place the presents under the tree when you're done, and maybe open them after dinner, or perhaps tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds great!” said Tao shoving his box of ornaments into M-21’s hands. “You can take over decorating my area of the tree.”

Regis scoffed. “Coward. You are just running away because you know I’m right.”

“Nonsense! I just want M-21 to get the full holiday experience!” Tao said grabbing M-21’s shoulders and marching him over to the tree. “I bet you’ve never decorated a Christmas tree before, have you M-21?!”

“Uh, no, I haven’t…”  
  
“Neither have we!” Tao continued brightly. “Takeo and I went to buy it this morning. We were going to ask you to come along, but you had already left. It’s surprisingly satisfying to watch it become more and more sparkly!”

M-21 stood in front of the tree dumbly holding an ornament in one hand. What was he supposed to do with this?

“Just hang it anywhere there is space.” Takeo said from M-21’s left. “I also still have a lot of ornaments if you want some more variety.” he continued offering his box of ornaments to M-21. 

“Ah. Okay. Thanks.” M-21 said. He hung his ornament on a bare branch and selected an elegant silver twist ornament from Takeo’s box. He smiled as he hung it in another sparse branch. Tao was right. There was something very satisfying about hanging the ornament in a bare, dark spot of the tree and watching it catch the light and brighten the area as it spun.

*********

About half an hour later the tree was fully decorated (the offending red ornaments had been relocated further away from each other and a silver ornament inserted between them) and dinner was almost ready.

Tao began arranging M-21’s packages under the tree.

“Hey M-21, this package doesn’t have a name on it. Should it go under the tree?” Tao asked, holding the plain square box out to M-21. 

“Oh, no. That one is mine.” M-21 said standing up from his crouch at the base of the tree and taking the package from Tao. “I’ll put it in my room really quick.” he said heading out of the living room and down the hall to his room.

In his room, M-21 didn’t bother turning on the lights. He just left the door open so that light from the hallway could enter the room and laid the square box on top of his bed. He lifted the lid to reveal the wide-brimmed leather hat he saw that morning. He lifted the hat out of the box and sat on the bed staring at it for a while. 

“You were right you know.” He said to the hat. “About following those guys. Since I left the Union, they’ve shown me things I never thought I’d see, and given me more than I can ever repay. I have a salary now - from a normal, honest job. And we are having a real Christmas for the first time ever- complete with a tree, pot roast and everything!

… 

I wish...

I could share this with all of you guys…”

“M-21? Dinner’s ready!” called Tao from down the hallway.

“Coming!” M-21 shouted back out the door. He stood up and looked down at the hat in his hands.

“I’m sorry I can’t give everyone their names back yet, but I promise I’ll find them. In the meantime, I got you this.” M-21 hung the hat from the corner of his bed’s headboard.

“Merry Christmas, partner.”

M-21 turned and walked into the bright hallway, shutting the door of his room behind him.

*********

When M-21 arrived in the dining room, Frankenstein was just bringing the steaming pot roast out of the kitchen to set on the table. Tender potatoes and carrots soaked in the pork’s juices surrounded the glistening meat. It smelled scrumptious. M-21’s stomach rumbled just looking at it.  
As M-21’s eyes followed the progress of the pork roast's journey to its resting place, he noticed that Rai was sitting at the table and staring at him.

Nonplussed, M-21 stared back at Rai.

Unfathomable ruby eyes examined M-21’s soul for an eternity.

Then Rai nodded once to M-21, turned back toward the table and took a sip of his tea.

A bewildered M-21 continued to stare at Raizel. 

_What was_ **_that_ ** _all about?!_

M-21 had difficulty reading Rai’s expression at the best of times, although the kids didn’t seem to have any trouble. Why would Rai look at him like that?

Unless…

Could the Noblesse have overheard M-21 talking to the hat?!

Although M-21 had left the door open, there was still quite a distance from the dining room to the bedroom and the chatter of the others and clatter of cooking was loud as well. It was impossible for anyone to have heard his monologue… right?

“M-21 why are you standing there acting like you’ve lost all your wits. If you don’t hurry up and sit down, the food will get cold.” Regis scolded from the table. 

Or Rai’s nod could simply have been approval that M-21 had responded quickly to the dinner summons so they could start eating…

M-21 scoffed and strode to his seat at the table.

“As if. You just lack self control and can’t wait to start stuffing your face. I was saving you from a burned tongue.” he replied as he slid into place.

“Whose face is getting stuffed?!” Regis shouted indignantly.

“Yours.” M-21 replied calmly.

“Why you…” Regis started.

“ _Enough!_ ” Frankenstein interjected. “There’s more than enough food for everyone to stuff their face. Seira and I spent all day in the kitchen cooking up a feast. And we have M-21’s presents to open afterwards, so enjoy!”  
  
“It smells absolutely amazing! Thanks Boss and Seira!” Tao exclaimed, rapidly snapping photos with his phone, trying to get an angle that showed the food with the Christmas tree in the background.

“It should taste good too.” Frankenstein declared. “I spent almost 50 years perfecting this recipe. Dig in! Merry Christmas everyone!”

“Merry Christmas!”  
  
*********

The family gathered around the brightly lit Christmas tree and M-21 handed out everyone’s presents.

The three nobles received their presents and stared at them blankly.

When Takeo received his, he started carefully ripping the paper along the taped edges. 

After observing Takeo, Regis examined his own package and followed suit while Seira reached into her gift bag and pulled out the small box inside.   
  
Rai continued staring down at the colorful package in his lap without moving. 

Tao tore his present open the moment he received it, shredding the paper in the process.

“Oooh! A heated, shoulder massager?! This is  **great** M-21! Thanks a ton!” He immediately unpacked the heated shoulder massager and plugged it into an outlet near the couch to charge.

Regis eyed the shredded bits of paper lying on the floor and harrumphed patronizingly.

At this point Takeo successfully opened his present.    
“Oh! A… hairdryer? How… useful!”

“It’s supposed to be one of the top brands known for being the quietest and least damaging to your hair…” M-21 spouted quickly trying to remember what the sales girl had told him.

Takeo blinked, and then laughed. “Is that right? Sounds good, I’ll try it out. Thanks M-21!”

M-21 silently sighed with relief. He looked up and noticed Seira holding her barrette in front of the Christmas tree watching the light glint off the ruby roses dangling from the black scythe. 

“Do you like it?” he asked her.   
  
She cupped the barrette in her hands and turned to look at him with pink-tinged cheeks.

“Yes.” She said nodding once.

M-21 smiled.    
  
“What’s this… a pasta maker?” 

M-21 turned toward Frankenstein.    


“It comes with a ramen noodle attachment, in case you wanted to continue your experiments.”

Rai had been silently peeling each piece of tape off his present without marring the wrapping paper, but he looked up when he heard the word ‘ramen.’ He stared fixedly at the machine in Frankenstein’s hands.

Frankenstein puffed a laugh.   
“I had intended to make turkey for tomorrow’s dinner, but shall we try making homemade ramen for lunch?” he asked his master wryly.

Rai nodded solemnly. 

“We’ll do that then. Thank you for the gift M-21. We shall make good use of it.” Frankenstein said smiling at M-21.

With elegant movements, Rai unfolded the wrapping paper to reveal two large variety boxes of special flavored ramen snacks. Rai’s eyes widened slightly and he paused staring at the boxes for a while. Then, despite having just finished a gourmet dinner, he opened a box, fished out a packet, pulled it open, and proceeded to daintily pick out bits of artificially flavored, crushed ramen, and crunch them.

“... Do you like it?” asked M-21 uncertainly.

Rai nodded.

“The flavor is different, but it is worth trying.” he said softly, before picking out another clump of crispy noodles to munch on.

“What have you got there, Regis?” Tao called from where he was lounging on the couch testing his new heated neck pillow.

“A new challenge.” Regis replied, chin cupped in his hand as he studied the back of the board game. 

“Try not to get beaten by the kids this time.” M-21 smirked.

“Who was beaten?! As I recall, you also shared in the punishment game!” retorted Regis. “If we were to play this game now, I would easily defeat you!”

“You just want practice before you have to face the kids.” M-21 scoffed.

“I’m not the one afraid of the kids’ punishments.” Regis replied.

“Hmm…. It says it’s for 6-8 players.” Takeo interjected standing over Regis’s shoulder and reading the box. “We have enough people to play if you want to do a test run before the kids randomly show up at the house again.”

“Let’s play now!” Tao said, gesturing toward the coffee table.

Rai stood up carrying his little packet of ramen, and calmly went to sit at his spot near the head of the coffee table. 

The rest of the group glanced at each other.

“I’ll go brew some tea.” Frankenstein said. “Seira, can you please set out a plate of those cookies we baked yesterday? M-21 and Regis, you two can start setting up the game.”

“On it.” M-21 and Regis replied.

There was a sudden bustle as everyone moved towards settling in for a night of boardgames, tea, snacks and family.

**Author's Note:**

> After I had originally posted this fic, I received a couple comments from friends and family saying they wanted to see the characters open their presents, so I added the last scene at the end. Sorry to everyone who already read the original version!


End file.
